Oldest human fossil found and may be half a million years old

[sky otter]

Oldest human fossil found  and may be half a million years old


copyrighted so you hafta go to the link..but  very interesting

Oldest human fossil found - huffingtonpost.com

Human Jawbone Fossil Found In Serbian Cave May Be More Than Half-Million Years Old
Posted: 02/07/2013 9:29 am EST
By: Tia Ghose, LiveScience Staff Writer
Published: 02/06/2013 05:24 PM EST on LiveScience



Scientists have unearthed a jawbone from an ancient human ancestor in a cave in Serbia.

The jawbone, which may have come from an ancient Homo erectus or a primitive-looking Neanderthal precursor, is more than 397,000 years old, and possibly more than 525,000 years old. The fossil, described today (Feb. 6) in the journal PLOS ONE, is the oldest hominin fossil found in this region of Europe, and may change the view that Neanderthals, our closest extinct human relatives, evolved throughout Europe around that time.



was reading about kennewick man and found that
wikipedia had a very good summary...so far he is the oldest for the u.s. that i can find
lots of interesting stuff out there




Kennewick Man

Kennewick Man is the name for the skeletal remains of a prehistoric man found on a bank of the Columbia River in Kennewick, Washington, USA, on July 28, 1996. The discovery of Kennewick Man was accidental; a pair of spectators (Will Thomas and David Deacy) found his skull while attending the annual hydroplane races.

One of the most complete ancient skeletons ever found, bone tests have shown the skeleton to be 8410 +/- 60 B.P. (UCR 3476) (ca 7300 to 7600 B.C.) These findings triggered a nine-year legal clash between scientists, the American government and Native American tribes who claim Kennewick Man as their ancestors. The long dispute has made him an international celebrity.

In February 2004, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that a cultural link between any of the Native American tribes and the Kennewick Man was not genetically justified, allowing scientific study of the remains to continue.

In July 2005, a team of scientists from around the United States convened in Seattle for ten days to study the remains, making many detailed measurements and determining the cause of death.

Kennewick Man was not a Native American and has more in common with Polynesians, according to the most recent study of the remains.

Scientific significanceThe remains had been scattered in the reservoir due to erosion. Following delivery of the cranium by the coroner, they were examined by archaeologist James Chatters. After ten visits to the site, Chatters had managed to collect 350 bones and pieces of bone, which with the skull completed almost an entire skeleton.[9] The cranium was fully intact with all the teeth that had been present at the time of death.[3] All major bones were found, except the sternum and a few bones of the hands and feet. The remains were determined to be those of "a male of late middle age (40-55 years), and tall (170 to 176 cm, 5'7" to 5'9"), slender build". Many of the bones were broken into several pieces. At the University of California at Riverside, a small bone fragment was subjected to radiocarbon dating. This fixed the age of the skeleton at approximately 9,300 years (8,400 uncalibrated "radiocarbon years"), not the nineteenth century, as had originally been assumed. After studying the bones, Chatters concluded they belonged to a Caucasoid male about 68 inches (173 cm) tall who had died in his mid fifties.

Chatters found that bone had partially grown around a 79 mm (3.1 in) stone projectile lodged in the ilium, part of the pelvic bone. On x-ray, nothing appeared. Chatters put the bone through a CT scan, and it was discovered the projectile was made from a siliceous gray stone that was found to have igneous (intrusive volcanic) origins. The projectile was leaf-shaped, long, broad and had serrated edges, all fitting the definition of a Cascade point. This type of point is a feature of the Cascade phase, which occurred roughly 7,500 to 12,000 years ago.

To further investigate the mystery of the Kennewick man and determine whether the skeleton belonged to the Umatilla Native American tribe, an extraction of DNA was analyzed, and according to the report of the scientists doing the DNA analysis: "available technology and protocols do not allow the analysis of ancient DNA from these remains."

Anthropologist Joseph Powell of the University of New Mexico was also allowed to examine the remains and his conclusions were contradictory. Powell used craniometric data obtained by anthropologist William White Howells of Harvard University and anthropologist Tsunehiko Hanihara  of Saga University that had the advantage of including data drawn from Asian and North American populations. Powell said that Kennewick Man was not European but most resembled the Ainu and Polynesians. Powell said that the Ainu descend from the Jamon people who are an East Asian population with "closest biological affinity with south-east Asians rather than western Eurasian peoples". Furthermore, Powell said that dental analysis showed the skull had a 94 percent chance of being a Sundadont group like the Ainu and Polynesians and only a 48 percent chance of being a Sinodont group like that of North Asia. Powell said analysis of the skull showed it to be "unlike American Indians and Europeans". Powell concluded that Kennewick man "is clearly not a Caucasoid unless Ainu and Polynesians are considered Caucasoid."

Chatters et al. conducted a graphic comparison, including size, of Kennewick Man to 18 modern populations and showed Kennewick Man was most closely related to the Ainu. However, when size was excluded as a factor, no association to any population was established Chatters said that anthropologist C. Loring Brace classified Ainu and Polynesians as a single craniofacial Jomon-Pacific cluster and Chatters said "Polynesians have craniofacial similarities to Asian, Australian and European peoples".

In a 2000 publication about Kennewick Man, anthropologist Glynn Custred of California State University East Bay said expert on Asian populations physical anthropologist C. Loring Brace of University of Michigan believed people related to the Jomon came before the modern Indian and that "two varieties of American Indian arose from the former being absorbed by the latter with the Plains Indian resembling the older group.[9] Brace himself stated in a 2006 interview with the Tri-City Herald that his analysis of the skeleton indicated Kennewick Man was related to the Ainu.

The biological diversity among ancient skulls in the Americas has further complicated attempts to establish how closely Kennewick Man is related to any modern Native American tribes. Skulls older than 8,000 years old have been found to possess greater physical diversity than do those of modern Native Americans. This range implies that there was a genetic shift in populations about 8,000 years ago. The heterogeneity of these early people shows that genetic drift had already occurred, meaning the racial type represented by Kennewick Man had been in existence for a considerable period of time.

The discovery of Kennewick Man, along with other ancient skeletons, has furthered scientific debate over the exact origin and history of early Native American people. One hypothesis holds that a single wave of migration occurred, consisting of hunters and gatherers following large herds of game, which wandered across the Bering land bridge around 12,000 years ago. Other hypotheses contend that there were numerous waves of migration to the Americas. The apparent diversity of ancient skeletal remains, which may include traits not typically associated with modern Native Americans, has been used as evidence to support these rival hypotheses. A 2008 study on the genetics of modern Native American populations suggests that the 86 samples taken are descendants of a single migration that spread out along a coastal route prior to the Clovis era.

Ownership controversy

According to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, if human remains are found on federal lands and their cultural affiliation to a Native American tribe can be established, the affiliated tribe may claim them. The Umatilla tribe requested custody of the remains, wanting to bury them according to tribal tradition. Their claim was contested by researchers hoping to study the remains.

The Umatilla argued that their oral history goes back 10,000 years and say that their people have been present on their historical territory since the dawn of time,[17] so a government statement that Kennewick Man is not Native American is detrimental to their religious beliefs.

Robson Bonnichsen and seven other anthropologists sued the United States for the right to conduct tests on the skeleton. On February 4, 2004, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit panel rejected the appeal brought by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Umatilla, Colville, Yakama, Nez Perce and other tribes on the grounds that they were unable to show any evidence of kinship.

On April 7, 2005, during the 109th Congress, United States Senator John McCain introduced an amendment to NAGPRA which (section 108) would have changed the definition of "Native American" from being that which "is indigenous to the United States" to "is or was indigenous to the United States." However, the 109th Congress concluded without enacting the bill. By the bill's definition, Kennewick Man would have been classified as Native American, regardless of whether any link to a contemporary tribe could be found. Proponents of this definition argue that it agrees with current scientific understanding, which is that it is not in all cases possible for prehistoric remains to be traced to current tribal entities, partly because of social upheaval, forced resettlement and extinction of entire ethnicities caused by disease and warfare. Doing so would still not remove the controversy surrounding Kennewick Man as then it would have to be decided which Native American group should take possession of the remains if he could not be definitively linked with a current tribe. To be of practical use in a historical and prehistorical context, some argue further that the term "Native American" should be applied so that it spans the entire range from the Clovis culture (which cannot be positively assigned to any contemporary tribal group) to the Métis, a group of mixed ancestry who only came into being as a consequence of European contact, yet constitute a distinct cultural entity.

The remains are now at the Burke Museum at the University of Washington, where they were deposited in October 1998. The Burke Museum is the court appointed neutral repository for the remains and as such they are not on exhibition. They are still legally the property of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as they were found on land under its custody.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennewick_Man



...while looking up stuff on kennewick  i found a very interesting youie tubie
but have to refind it..
about the red haired giants that kennewick may be one of

also wandered into a very interesting youie tubie...from minute 6  veryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
interesting..the into is a bit wierd by paul fromm..but it's short

[zorgon]

Just noticed that Huffington posted the entire article from the original source Live Science 

Go figure... I don't see a note that says "with permission" but maybe they have a deal like I do with some sources.  No matter Short to the point snippets are better anyway. Less work and more likely to be read

okay this seems to be a different find.... in Laos (just noticed)  I can move it later, but it came up under "oldest bones" and is also from Live Science. Hmmm I better go see what Live Science's copy policy is

Oldest bones from modern humans in Asia discovered

A reconstruction of the human skull discovered in Tam Pa Ling, "the Cave of the Monkeys" in northern Laos.

By Charles Choi
updated 8/20/2012

New found pieces of human skull from "the Cave of the Monkeys" in Laos are the earliest skeletal evidence yet that humans once had an ancient, rapid migration to Asia.

Anatomically modern humans first arose about 200,000 years ago in Africa. When and how our lineage then dispersed out of Africa has long proven controversial.

Archaeological evidence and genetic data suggest that modern humans rapidly migrated out of Africa and into Southeast Asia by at least 60,000 years ago. However, complicating this notion is the notable absence of fossil evidence for modern human occupation in mainland Southeast Asia, likely because those bones do not survive well in the warm, tropical region.

Now a partial skull from Tam Pa Ling, "the Cave of the Monkeys" in northern Laos, helps fill in this mysterious gap in the fossil record. [ See Photos of "Monkey Cave" Fossils ]

"Most surprising is the fact that we found anything at all," researcher Laura Lynn Shackelford, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Illinois, told LiveScience. "Most people didn't think we'd find anything in these caves, or even in the region where we're working in mainland Southeast Asia. But we're stubborn, gone where no one's really looked before, or at least in almost a century."

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/48728589/#.URibntj5mSp

[zorgon]

Southeastern Europe's Oldest-Known Human Ancestor Fossil Found in Serbia

According to a research published in the open access journal PLoS ONE, a 400k year old fragment of human lower jaw recovered from a Serbian cave is the oldest human ancestor found in this part of Europe.

Top: artist's reconstruction of human ancestors (SINC / José Antonio Peñas). Bottom: a human lower jaw found in a cave near Balanica, Serbia (Mirjana Roksandic)

The fossil, labeled BH-1, was found to be at least 397,000 years old and possibly older than 525,000 years old, a time when distinctly Neanderthal traits began to appear in Europe.

The evolution of these traits was strongly influenced by periodic isolation of groups of individuals, caused by episodic formation of glaciers.

"On the basis of preserved morphology, BH-1 differs significantly from Middle Pleistocene European hominins generally grouped under Homo heidelbergensis. It exhibits primitive features such as a prominent planum alveolare, thick mandibular corpus, wide exomolar sulcus, flat rather than concave sublingual fossa, and poorly defined relief of the submandibular fossa," authors wrote.

"There is a complete lack of derived Neandertal features... Given the size of the mandibular body, the dentition is relatively small, and fits well with Middle Pleistocene European specimens."

Humans in southeastern Europe were never geographically isolated from Asia and Africa by glaciers, and according to the authors, this resulted in different evolutionary forces acting on early human populations in this region.

"The study confirms the importance of southeast Europe as a 'gate to the continent' and one of the three main areas where humans, plants and animals sought refuge during glaciations in prehistoric times," said senior author Dr Mirjana Roksandic of the University of Winnipeg, Canada.

"We have very few fossils of hominins in general from this time, a period that was critical for shaping the appearance and evolution of uniquely human morphology and behaviors," she said.



Bibliographic information: Rink WJ et al. 2013. New Radiometric Ages for the BH-1 Hominin from Balanica (Serbia): Implications for Understanding the Role of the Balkans in Middle Pleistocene Human Evolution. PLoS ONE 8(2): e54608; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0054608[/color][/size]

http://www.sci-news.com/othersciences/anthropology/article00874.html

Okay looks like the original story comes from PLOS One;

Reproduction of Articles

All articles and accompanying materials published by PLOS on PLOS Sites, unless otherwise indicated, are licensed by the respective authors of such articles for use and distribution by you subject to citation of the original source in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution License.

I will add this to the list of sources that we have. Sites like this are great to hunt other articles we might find interesting. Refreshing to find some authors are more interested in sharing their work



PLOS ONE (eISSN-1932-6203) is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access, online publication. PLOS ONE welcomes reports on primary research from any scientific discipline. It provides:

    Open-access—freely accessible online, authors retain copyright
    Fast publication times
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PLOS ONE is published by PLOS, a nonprofit organization.

[zorgon]

Here is the full science paper with citations and sources for those who want to dig deeper

New Radiometric Ages for the BH-1 Hominin from Balanica (Serbia): Implications for Understanding the Role of the Balkans in Middle Pleistocene Human Evolution


Figure 1. Location of the site and the distribution of samples in the cave.

Abstract

Newly obtained ages, based on electron spin resonance combined with uranium series isotopic analysis, and infrared/post-infrared luminescence dating, provide a minimum age that lies between 397 and 525 ka for the hominin mandible BH-1 from Mala Balanica cave, Serbia. This confirms it as the easternmost hominin specimen in Europe dated to the Middle Pleistocene. Inferences drawn from the morphology of the mandible BH-1 place it outside currently observed variation of European Homo heidelbergensis. The lack of derived Neandertal traits in BH-1 and its contemporary specimens in Southeast Europe, such as Kocaba?, Vasogliano and Ceprano, coupled with Middle Pleistocene synapomorphies, suggests different evolutionary forces acting in the east of the continent where isolation did not play such an important role during glaciations.


Figure 2. Vertical distribution of the samples on the northern profile.


Table 1. Age Results for Dental Enamel, Sediment and Flowstone at Mala Balanica.

Introduction

The Middle Pleistocene has become increasingly recognized as an important period in the biocultural evolution of our lineage. Lebel et al. recognize "exaggerated encephalization, the controlled use of fire, temperate zone geographic dispersals, varieties of prepared core lithic reduction techniques, the development of effective (predatory and defensive) weaponry, and regional differentiation of human populations" among relevant developments. In Europe, the Middle Pleistocene is generally associated with Homo heidelbergensis, a species that was, and continues to be, the subject of substantial controversy regarding its morphology, geographic spread and phylogenetic position (for recent critical overviews see . Although some consider Homo heidelbergensis as once extending across the Old World, it is more commonly regarded as a European Middle Pleistocene phenomenon, often associated with an early stage in Neandertal evolution. Cartmill and Smith have suggested that the question of H. heidelbergensis taxonomy is not easily solved and advise that we should be referring to these specimens as Heidlebergs, while Stringer [4] recently concluded that questions relating to the phylogenetic position of this species and its differentiation from H. rhodesiensis and other Middle Pleistocene hominins might never be answered since "... these fossils are close to the morphotype expected in the common ancestor of Neanderthals and 'modern' H. sapiens". As an encephalized, non-specialized hominin, H. heidelbergensis could be ancestral to either or both Neandertals and modern human. However, since all of the European specimens included in the H. heidelbergensis hypodigm present some Neandertal traits, it is commonly considered as a chronospecies, which over time acquired increasingly more specialized Neandertal morphology in the glacial quasi-isolation of Western Europe. It is increasingly evident that the species level might not be the most productive level of discourse when discussing hominin populations in the Middle Pleistocene. A more appropriate level of comparison relies on the "paleo-deme" or "p-deme" concept  that allows us to distinguish between local populations and discuss their possible phyletic relationships without implying (or rejecting) speciation events.

Against this background, every new fossil from the Balkans, where Pleistocene populations were not subject to the same levels of isolation experienced by their western counterparts during glacial periods, could contribute substantially to our understanding of hominin evolution in Europe. A left semi-mandible, BH-1, from Balanica, Serbia, is particularly important as it represents the only Middle Pleistocene hominin specimen from the Central Balkans.

The mandible was excavated at Mala Balanica cave, which together with Velika Balanica forms the Balanica Cave Complex, located in Si?evo Gorge, south Serbia (N43°20.211', E22°05.115'). This cave complex has been the focus of systematic archaeological excavations since 2004. Middle Paleolithic artifacts were recovered from the upper levels of both caves and a hominin mandible in the lower stratigraphic level of Mala Balanica, 1.5m below the artifact bearing levels. The excavations are ongoing and bedrock has not been reached in either cave. The detailed characteristics of the sedimentary sequence and details of morphology of the BH-1 mandible are described elsewhere. In this paper we present new ages relevant to the age of the mandible that were obtained by ESR-US and ESR-CSUS dating of tooth enamel, 230Th/234U closed system dating of speleothem carbonate, and infrared/post infrared luminescence dating of cave sediment. We also examine its morphology in the light of an increasing number of Middle Pleistocene hominins in the southeast of the continent.

Citation: Rink WJ, Mercier N, Mihailovi? D, Morley MW, Thompson JW, et al. (2013) New Radiometric Ages for the BH-1 Hominin from Balanica (Serbia): Implications for Understanding the Role of the Balkans in Middle Pleistocene Human Evolution. PLoS ONE 8(2): e54608. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054608

Editor: Fred H. Smith, Illinois State University, United States of America

Received: September 21, 2012; Accepted: December 14, 2012; Published: February 6, 2013

Copyright: © 2013 Rink et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0054608

There is more but its a long paper